Mass Effect 3 PC requires internet connection, no local co-op planned

Slowly but surely, more Mass Effect 3 news is trickling out of BioWare. Firstly, the PC version of Mass Effect 3 will require an internet connection at launch, but will no longer require the connection afterwards.

Slowly but surely, more Mass Effect 3 news is trickling out of BioWare. Firstly, the PC version of Mass Effect 3 will require an internet connection at launch, but will no longer require the connection afterwards. Considering BioWare isn't owned by Ubisoft, we'll hold them to that.

Local co-op, whether it's split-screen on console or via LAN on PC, also will not be supported in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode. That's a tad unfortunate, given how recent co-op games, such as Uncharted 3 and Gears of War 3, offer these features.

You also won't be able to create your own multiplayer server. "Because of a lot of the match making systems are quite server intensive, we have no plans anytime soon to allow the creation of an offline server," BioWare's Jesse Houston explains in a new Q&A.

If you love griefing your friends, you'll be disappointed to know that friendly fire is also not a part of multiplayer. "We didn’t believe it added a lot to the co-op experience," Houston explained, adding it may be available later as some sort of modifier to the game, but not at release."

Finally, Mass Effect 3's Kinect functionality will be stripped from multiplayer, mostly because you'll be using a headset to communicate with friends, not AI. "We'd want you to yell at them and not your TV," Houston noted.

Mass Effect 3 will be available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on March 6th.